Page 22 of My Italian Stepbrother

Wait. How is he okay with me revealing his secrets to Lewis? Is he playing with me?

We enter the warehouse, and I look around frantically, my anxiety soaring to dizzying heights even though I know deep down inside that he’ll never hurt me. That’s what pains me the most—the fact that despite everything Lewis has shown me, the first person I’ll run to when shit goes sideways is Benito. Despite what Benito has done, I still feel safe around him. What does that say about me?

He drags me to a spot in the middle of the building and points down at the ground. I see that I’m standing right in the center of a blood stain.

“This is where it all happened,” he says, gesturing wildly around him. “What did he tell you? I’m some merciless killer who’s been taking out my father’s enemies? Because that’s a lie.”

I back away from the blood stain, overwhelmed by everything I’ve been exposed to today, and vomit on the ground. Benito walks up behind me and lightly grabs me by the back of the neck.

“I thought you wanted to know?” he barks and I cry out.

“Please stop this, Benito. Please. It’s too much.”

“My family has had their fingers in a lot of pots for decades. Drugs, gambling, racketeering, smuggling—you name it, we want in.” He speaks in a terrifyingly emotionless voice, completely ignoring my sobs. “How do you think we can afford the fancy house and the nice cars? It’s all ill-gotten blood money.

“While my father might be okay with doing anything to get rich, I’m not.” He lets go of me and walks a few paces away with his hands on his hips. “One night, my dad sent me here to handle a late delivery. One of his overseas contacts was smuggling something in, and he wouldn’t explain any further at the time. When I got here, everything seemed normal. A bunch of smugglers probably bringing illegal cigars and coke over. No big deal.”

Benito pauses and massages the back of his neck thinking about it. I furrow my forehead and bite the inside of my cheek, listening intently to what he’s saying with a sick feeling in my stomach.

“I walked inside the warehouse,” he continues as he reaches for my arm, motioning for me to follow him to a broken red door. “I came in right here, and I saw a literal boatload of women being transferred into those storage containers outside.”

My stomach churns more. Human trafficking? Enio and his business partners are involved in human trafficking?

“I walked over there.” He points to the center of the room where the bloodstain is. “And I tried to figure out what the hell was going on. He told me that Enio said no one would ask questions. I looked back at the women, some of them so young. And I knew I had to help them.”

He pauses for a moment, and my heart goes out to him. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to see something like that and not be able to do anything about it.

“I killed him, Brie.” His eyes look haunted. “With my bare hands, I beat him to death right there.”

I walk towards him and rest a hand on his shoulder. I’m still horrified about what he did, but it sounds like he saved all those women from a lot of suffering and trauma. I think that’s noble of him. The fact is he didn’t mind getting his hands dirty to rescue them.

“Benito,” I whisper, rubbing my hands on his shoulder. “I had no idea.”

“I didn’t want to tell you. I figured it would be best for you to stay in the dark about it. The less you know the better when it comes to the Bareli family business,” he scoffs before he places one hand over mine.

“I shouldn’t have started digging around.”

“I would have probably done the same thing if I were you.”

“How long has Enio been involved with that guy?” I’m nervous about the answer, but I have to know.

My mom is married to Enio, and I can’t possibly let her continue the relationship with someone who’s involved with something so heinous.

“I don’t know,” Benito says quietly. “Long enough to know exactly how to spin the story to keep it hidden. The private investigator is looking for the other men that were with the man I killed.”

“Do you know where they are?”

He shakes his head and looks down at me. “I called my dad after I did everything, and he just told me to go home. He was going to send someone else to clean up. Whoever he sent is the one who knows.”

I lean in and hug Benito, and he holds me in his arms. I sink into the warmth of his body, having missed it last night despite everything else that had been going on. My nerves relax in his embrace, and all I want to do is leave this disgusting warehouse and go home.

“What are you going to do? When I spoke to the PI, he seemed intent on outing the entire business,” I say to him when I eventually pull away.

“I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing anymore.” He pauses as if choosing the right words. “My dad wants to retire and probably move to Italy with your mom. When he does, the business is mine, and it’s all going to be different.”

We walk out of the warehouse, holding hands, and get back in his car. I look over at him and see how stressed he is with everything he just had to replay in his mind.

“Benito.” I cup his face and force him to look at me. “I’m so sorry for making you go through that all over again.”

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